CCTV Vice Chief Editor Huang Chuanfang presented James Chau (right) with the award CCTV International Journalist of the Year at a ceremony in Beijing on 19 January 2011. Credit: CCTV News
China Central Television has named CCTV News Anchor and National UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador James Chau its International Journalist of the Year. The prize, the first in the network’s history, was given for his coverage of the 2010 Manila Hostage Crisis, and in recognition of his reporting to highlight the rights of HIV-positive people. The award was presented today by CCTV Vice Chief Editor Huang Chuanfang at a ceremony in Beijing.
Mr Chau was appointed National UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for China in 2009. His news programmes are watched in over 100 countries, which he has used as a platform to inform millions of viewers about HIV and the AIDS response. He has spoken on camera in a rare exclusive with the singer and Chinese AIDS Ambassador Peng Liyuan and, in April 2010, covered the Chinese Government’s historic decision to remove its two decade HIV-related travel ban.
I congratulate Mr Chau on receiving this award which acknowledges his contribution to international news reporting in China including highlighting the global issue of HIV
Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director
“I congratulate Mr Chau on receiving this award which acknowledges his contribution to international news reporting in China including highlighting the global issue of HIV,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director. “Mr James Chau is also a role model for today's youth through his tireless personal advocacy and participation in a number of international fora.”
In 2010 James Chau reported live from the International AIDS Conference in Vienna and at the Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York, where he interviewed UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, U.S. AIDS Envoy Eric Goosby and former President of Botswana Festus Mogae.
He also spoke on television with AIDS activist Annie Lennox, as well as French scientist Françoise Barré-Sinoussi who won the Nobel Prize for co-discovering HIV. Meanwhile, Mr Chau’s week-long special on CCTV News for World AIDS Day 2010 was the first extensive coverage of its kind in the Chinese state media. It featured three Health Ministers: China's Chen Zhu, South Africa's Aaron Motsoaledi and Rwanda's Richard Sezibera.
CCTV News is the international division of China Central Television and broadcasts globally 24 hours a day, together with the station’s other channels it reaches out to the country’s 1.3 billion population.
